Oswaldo Arcia

Arcia enters 2015 with a starting job and an improving power stroke at the plate, which may enable him to have a full breakout in his age-24 season. After a 2-for-18 start to his 2014 campaign, Arcia ...

Arcia had a promising rookie debut at age 22 in the majors by hitting .251/.304/.430 with 14 home runs. His primary asset is his power (24 home runs between the majors and Triple-A), and he had good slugging percentage numbers in the minors. He does struggle to make contact, which was magnified in the majors, as he struck out in 31 percent of his plate appearances. While he earned free passes at a good clip in the minors, Arcia drew walks in just six percent of plate appearances with the Twins. Though his rookie numbers were not overly impressive, Arcia was still able to hold his own for such a young player. If he can increase his walks and reduce his strikeouts to his minor league levels, he may improve dramatically in his second year. He'll also need to improve his defense, as he graded out with a -12.3 UZR in the outfield and ultimately may need to move to first base or DH. Arcia will begin the season as the starting right fielder for the Twins and as one of the main building blocks on a rebuilding team.

2013

Arcia may be one of the top outfield prospects in baseball after hitting .320/.388/.539 with 17 home runs between two stops in the minors last season. He hit .309 with a .893 OPS in 55 games at High-A before being promoted to Double-A in June, where he was even better in tough hitting environment (.328/.398/.557 with 10 home runs). Arcia excelled at Double-A even though he was just 21 years old. He has excellent power and draws walks at a robust rate (10 percent of plate appearances). He will need to make more contact and reduce his strikeouts or his batting average may not be an asset at higher levels. He will likely begin the season at Double-A, but it would not be surprising to see him in Minnesota in September and figure prominently in the team's rebuilding plans.

2012

Arcia is quickly rising up the prospect charts after continuing to thrive following his strong rookie league debut in 2010. He got off to a strong start at Low-A by hitting .420 with five home runs in 20 games before missing a month with a right elbow injury. When he returned he was promoted to High-A, but slowed a bit by hitting .263/.300/.460 with eight home runs. After previously drawing walks at a decent rate, he had just nine walks in 213 at-bats last season. However, he was just 20 years old in High-A, so he was younger than his competition. Arcia has shown good power and could be an impact player in the majors, but we'll need to see how he fares in a full season at higher levels.